We send kids to national schools, KJ tells Dr M

 Swipenter: There is nothing wrong in giving the best education to your kids. In fact it is the duty of all parents to do so.

I will send my kid to Chinese vernacular school and later if (a very big IF) I can afford it, I will send her to a private or international school after she finishes her primary education.

Now what irks us are those hypocritical politicians and language chauvinists playing politics with our children’s education; demonising vernacular schools and us for not sending our children to national schools when they themselves send their kids to private and/or international schools locally or overseas.

I want my child to be conversant in Chinese, Bahasa Malaysia and English for obvious reasons and not to forget, a solid and good education which is recognised worldwide.

Desperate for Change: The national schools in the 70s had an excellent system. An ‘A’ then meant 90 marks and above – a true reflection of students’ performance. Children were excited to go to school even after the exams and till the very last day.

Teachers were focused on only teaching. They did not have so many reports, etc, to churn out. Workbooks did not exist. Because the national schools were good, very few Chinese and Indians went to vernacular schools.

BN has indeed messed up the education system. Textbooks show a distorted version of our history. I am just glad my children have finished their education and are now overseas.

AnakPinang: The issue is not which schools, but standards in our national schools. Where is the monitoring and developmental process when teachers are always going off to ‘kursus’ and ‘mesyuarat’?

Just compare the standards of pastoral care, intervention and teaching-learning in international schools and you would know why those who can afford it send their kids to these institutions.

Hmmmmmmmm: Sports and Youth Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ), please don’t talk in generalisations. Show us the list of cabinet ministers who send all their children to national schools up to at least SPM level.

Please note that I have not requested the same from opposition members because they (like many other citizens) have no faith in the national schools so should be excused if they send their children to other schools.

BN members, however, since they are the implementers of the education policies which they claim are the best, should put their money where their mouths are.

Ratbatblue: I don’t care tuppence if ministers send their kids to private or national schools. What concerns me is which schools my kids go to.

Unfortunately, national schools are test beds for promoting government policies, and Islamisation is an accepted feature, even in vernacular schools, for example having different canteens for Muslim students, non-Muslim female students being ordered to sit behind during assembly so that their uncovered ankles are not evident (this actually happens in my daughter’s school, which on top of it, is a missionary girls school).

All this could be accepted if teaching standards are above average. However, this is not the case, with many teachers more interested in doing their teaching in private tuition classes, and leaving students to run the show themselves.

This is the norm in national schools, so how to support them? My other daughter’s Primary 3 class did not have a maths teacher for three to four months since the incumbent was at a course and no replacement was available.

Fernz: The issue is not national schools but the politicisation of education in the country to the extent that you are denied choices if you are poor. The rich can always send their children to international schools locally or abroad.

In the end, as former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, only the children of the rich can speak English, while other Malaysians can only speak Tamil, Chinese and Malay and are left out in the job market which favours the English-speaking.

Oriole: The inequalities exist at various levels. There is the obvious one is between government and private institutions.

In the case of the latter, it is not clear why the government continues to give out licences to rapacious businessmen to open these private institutions.

Aside from nicer facilites, ponds, lakes and glitzy infrastructure, the quality of education is in no way superior.

In fact, the tendency to cut corners, to hire unqualified people including ‘mat sallehs’ (for their ‘kulit’ rather than their qualifications) and such are apparent in these private institutions.

Shawkey Ghafur: Integrated school system which comprises the main languages such as Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil is the best solution for the education policy.

Tamil and Chinese language must be made compulsory for Indian and Chinese students. Thus, the gap between the rich and poor would be diminished.

Cascara: The ‘education gap’ is not because of two groups are not mixing with one another. It is because of the different standards of teaching and the curriculum.

I just hope they don’t close the gap by pulling down the better performing group.

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